The union rescinds disciplinary measures, re-elects booted president
The Teaching and Research Assistants of Concordia (TRAC) labour union held a general assembly on Monday, March 16, voting in a new roster of executives headed by a president who was ousted and banned from re-election only two months ago.
For months, TRAC had been paralyzed by internal investigations based on mutual incriminations amongst its leadership, with allegations of abuse of power, insubordination, and improper spending.
The final report from these investigations barred the president at the time, Nader Nodoushan, from holding any position for a full year, though the findings said there was no intentional malice in his actions. Despite exculpating the other executives, all were let go on account of a already-too-toxic atmosphere.
The findings were voted down at a previous general assembly, though it took the dissention of the provincial council to render them null.
This means Nodoushan’s ban was rescinded and he was capable of running.
Another returning executive is Grievance Officer Gounash Pirniya, who was previously accused of inadequately processing grievances between the team, She is also Nodoushan’s girlfriend.
The TRAC executive is now totally staffed by members of the Engineering and Computer Science faculty; in the past, concerns were raised about voting blocs split by faculty, of which engineering is the biggest.
At one point, an attendee raised the possibility of a compromised election and said he had been given multiple voting slips, though there doesn’t seem any evidence that this was anything more than an accident. Additionally, there was some concern raised about papers that outlined a preferred list of winners making their rounds amongst certain members.
Absent from the meeting was former Communications and Mobilization Officer Robert Sonin, who’s under a different, parallel investigation and was denied participation in the proceedings.
EDIT: The original article was unclear and may have been understood as reporting Gounash Pirniya was also banned from running alongside Mr. Nodoushan. This is not the case and the article has been amended.
